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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Thank You Canada

Same spot as yesterday, different clothing
A strong cold front blew in from Canada last night, bringing with it much colder temperatures--at least twenty-five degress below yesterday's temps.  The dust in the air isn't appreciated, but the respite from hot days ahead is very nice.  Soon the heat will be unrelenting.  At the far point of our hike into the outback we discovered some more of those dirt "lug nuts," which are probably made by insects larger than termites.  My friend Scott over at It Just Comes Naturally speculated last year that they are created by either spiders or wasps.  Now I'm wondering whether these things could be made by Antlion larvae.
Very dusty skies

Clearer that-a-way


Another Ash-throated Flycatcher

Barely-visible Organ Mountains

Blue sky left, dusty sky right

Dirt lug nut


Another dirt lug nut


4 comments:

Scott said...

Boy, you weren't kidding about the dust! Wow!

The antlions we have around here create depressed cones in loose soil--nothing like your lugnuts. Still a mystery... I have a friend who is an academic entomologist; I'll try to ask him (but he's pretty busy). I'll let you know if I find out anything.

Weather here is absolutely perfect; really, it couldn't be nicer (unless I was outside enjoying it). Spring has been magnificent--once it got over its late start.

Dr. K said...

I can't wait until it gets hot again. I'm from Tucson, and I love the heat.

Scott said...

Packrat: As promised, I contacted my academic entomologist friend who, surprisingly, responded right away. He wants to know the approximate size of the "lugnuts" and especially the approximate diameter of the hole in the center. Maybe we can close in on this mystery...

packrat said...

Scott: Thanks for contacting your entomologist friend. I'd say the dirt lug nuts are perhaps a half inch bigger than real lug nuts, and the hole in the center is approximately 1/2 inch in diameter. Here's a link to the blog post from last November when I first saw them.

http://desertpackrat.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-puzzle.html

Perhaps you can email it to him.

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